Submerged, Self-Sustained Waterborne Data Center Facility

ABSTRACT

A self-sustained, submerged waterborne data center facility that utilizes a closed-looped heat management system that is both energy-efficient and cost-effective is disclosed. Embodiments employ a closed-looped, energy efficient, cost effective thermal management system that leverages natural resources to control thermal conditions and reduce the overall requirement for cooling power.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation to application Ser. No. 14/200,461filed on 7 Mar. 2014, which in turn claims reference to ProvisionalPatent application No. 61/861,197 filed on Aug. 1, 2013, entitled “ADATA CENTER FACILITY AND PROCESS THAT UTILIZES A CLOSED-LOOPED HEATMANAGEMENT SYSTEM.”

FIELD

The present invention relates to data center facilities housed on marinevessels.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Data centers and co-location providers in particular struggle with bothsupplying requisite power as well as cooling. As data center densitycontinues to increase there is a growing demand for more energyefficient and cost effective data centers and co location solutions.

A data center is designed to maintain interior ambient conditionssuitable for proper operation of the computer systems therein. Typicaldata centers may consume more than twice the power needed to support theplurality of computer systems housed therein. This is a result of theinefficient air conditioning units that may account for half of thetotal power consumed in the data center to cool the plurality ofcomputer systems therein. This inefficiency prohibits support of highdensity computing systems in today's data centers.

Embodiments disclose a waterborne data center facility employing aclosed looped, energy efficient, cost effective thermal managementsystem that leverages natural surrounding resources to control thermalconditions and reduce the overall requirement for cooling power.

SUMMARY

A data center facility comprising: a marine vessel comprising a heatexchange system, a bow section, a stern section, a starboard section,and a port section; a computer data center, wherein the computer datacenter comprises a plurality of computing units, and wherein thecomputer data center is comprised in the marine vessel; an electricalpower generator; a thermal containment system; a thermal airflow system;a hot water return cooling system; and a software management suite. Thewater-based closed-loop cooling system comprises a single or pluralityof filtered water intake pipes and water exhaust pipes; a single orplurality of water pumps, heat exchangers, coolant heat exchange piping;a closed-loop coolant distribution unit comprising means for usingsurrounding water as a coolant; and coolant distribution piping. Thesoftware management suite further comprises a Data Center InfrastructureManagement (DCIM) system with predictive analytics and configured forcontinuously collecting and analyzing data from a plurality ofinfrastructure systems, components and wireless sensors. According toalternate embodiments the heat exchange system is partially orcompletely comprised in the hull of the marine vessel, making for a hullheat exchange system, or a hull heat exchanger.

Embodiments disclosed include a self-sustained waterborne facilitycomprising a submerged marine vessel, a datacenter coupled to a networkand housed in the submerged marine vessel, a reconfigurable thermalcontainment system coupled to at least one of the submerged marinevessel and the data center, and a single or plurality of closed-loopcooling units comprised in the reconfigurable thermal containmentsystem.

In a data center facility, a method comprising generating electricalpower and providing the generated electrical power to the data-center,wherein any excess power is stored as back up or transmitted through agrid network; pumping surrounding water in close proximity to the datacenter facility and circulating the pumped water through a closed loopcooling system; wherein the closed loop cooling system is comprised in aheat exchanger; wherein the surrounding water is drawn by water pumpsthrough filtered water intake pipes to be pumped through one side of theheat exchanger, where it serves as a heat sink to cool hot coolant froma coolant distribution unit being pumped through the other side of theheat exchanger; and expelling the pumped water after absorbing the heatfrom the hot coolant through filtered water exhaust pipes.

In a data center facility, a method of monitoring and managing thefacility, the method comprising collecting of environmental data by aplurality of infrastructure systems, components and wireless sensors;storing the collected data in a database; analyzing the stored data by apredictive analytics engine, wherein the analyzed data is employed by aData Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) element controller tomanage infrastructure systems and components' operational states tosustain optimal infrastructure efficiency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a waterborne data center front sectional view

FIG. 2 illustrates a heat exchange and closed-loop cooling sidesectional view

FIG. 3 illustrates a thermal containment top closed-loop coolingsectional view

FIG. 4 illustrates a thermal containment rear closed-loop coolingsectional view

FIG. 5 illustrates a waterborne data center side sectional view

FIG. 6 illustrates a waterborne data center top sectional view

FIG. 7 illustrates a waterborne data center top sectional view belowmain deck

FIG. 8 illustrates a waterborne data center top sectional view

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As stated above, Data centers and co-location providers in particularstruggle with both supplying requisite power as well as cooling. As datacenter density continues to increase there is a growing demand for moreenergy efficient and cost effective data centers and co-locationsolutions. The invention claimed here solves this problem.

Through our holistic approach to data center architecture, thermalmanagement and energy consumption, we are creating state-of-the-artwaterborne data center facilities that maximize efficiencies byleveraging technology and the surrounding environment, with virtually noecological impact, ultimately passing substantial savings on energyspent to our partners and customers.

The claimed invention differs from, and is an improvement on whatcurrently exists. Embodiments disclose a waterborne solution to datacenter thermal management and energy consumption. Preferred embodimentsare designed to maximize efficiencies by leveraging technology andNature with virtually no impact to the surrounding environment,resulting in substantial costs savings passed on to customers.

Computer room air conditioner (CRAC) units are poorly designed for datacenters because they are energy inefficient and are typically designedto be approximately 6′ tall, limiting the ability of the units to treatthe hottest air in the data center which rises closer to ceiling height.Hot air and cold air are allowed to freely mix in today's typical datacenter, which greatly reduces the efficiency of cooling systems.

Embodiments of our waterborne data center facility employ aclosed-looped, energy efficient, cost effective thermal managementsystem that leverages natural resources to control thermal conditionsand reduce the overall requirement for cooling power.

An embodiment includes the following: 1. A Purpose . . . built marinevessel (FIG. 5, 500; FIG. 6, 600; FIG. 7, 700; FIG. 8, 800); 2. A Hullheat exchange system (FIG. 1, 102; FIG. 2, 202); 3. A water basedclosed-looped cooling system (FIG. 1, 104; FIG. 2, 204; FIG. 3, 302;FIG. 4, 402; FIG. 5, 516; FIG. 6, 616; FIG. 8, 816); 4. A thermalcontainment system (FIG. 2, 206; FIG. 3, 300; FIG. 4, 400); 5. A thermalairflow system (FIG. 1, 106; FIG. 2, 208; FIG. 3, 308; FIG. 4, 408); 6.A hot water return cooling system (FIG. 1, 108; FIGS. 2, 210); and 7. Amanagement software suite

Relationship Between the Components:

FIG. 1 illustrates a waterborne data center front sectional view.According to an embodiment, water borne data center 100 comprises a heatexchanger 102 (wherein, in an optional embodiment the heat exchanger ispartially or wholly comprised in the hull of the water borne datacenter), a water based closed loop cooling system 104, a thermal airflow cool air return system 106, and a hot water return cooling system108.

According to an embodiment the purpose-built marine vessel (1) is usedto house all components. The data center space is comprised in themarine vessel, wherein thermal containment systems (4) and thermalairflow system (5) are built into the data center space in thepurpose-built, non-navigable marine vessel (1). It should be notedhowever, that alternate embodiments may include a navigable marinevessel. The water based closed-loop cooling system (3) is comprisedwithin the thermal containment system (4) situated behind or above eachrack and also within the sides and bottom of the purpose-built, nonnavigable marine vessel (1). The management software suite (7) can berun in the data center within the purpose-built marine vessel (1) orfrom a remote site.

FIG. 2 illustrates heat exchange and closed-loop cooling side sectionalview. According to an embodiment, the water-based closed-loop coolingsystem (FIG. 1, 104; FIG. 2, 204; FIG. 3, 302; FIG. 4, 402; FIG. 8, 816)comprises filtered water intake pipes (FIG. 5, 502; FIG. 6, 602; FIG. 7,702; FIG. 8, 802), filtered water exhaust pipes (FIG. 7, 708), waterpumps (FIG. 5, 504; FIG. 7, 704; FIG. 8, 804), heat exchangers (FIG. 1,102; FIG. 2, 202; FIG. 5, 506; FIG. 6, 606; FIG. 7, 706; FIG. 8, 806),coolant heat exchange piping, closed-loop coolant distribution unit thatmay use freshwater as a coolant, and coolant distribution piping. Thedata center facility 100 comprises a plurality of computer systemsinstalled in a plurality of data center modules. Data center modules arestructurally similar in shape and size to shipping containers. The datacenter modules in general comprise a plurality of racks, a plurality ofrack-mounted computer systems and water-based cooling units. Inalternate embodiments, the filtered water intake pipes and filteredwater exhaust pipes may be installed in the bow (front) or stern (back)section of the waterborne data center vessel instead of on the starboard(right) or port (left) sides of the vessel. The closed-loop coolantdistribution unit may be connected to the heat exchangers and to thedata center modules according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates thermal containment top closed-loop cooling sectionalview. FIG. 4 illustrates thermal containment rear closed-loop coolingsectional view. Thermal containment (300, 400) comprises water basedclosed loop cooling (302, 402), quick connects water (304, 404), fiberladder (306, 406), thermal air flow cool air return (308, 408), VFD fanscool air return (310, 410), cable power management (312, 412) and palletjack slots/recessed wheels (314, 414). The heat generated by thecomputing systems in the data center modules is absorbed by theenergy-efficient water-based closed-loop cooling system 302, 402.

FIG. 5 illustrates a side sectional view of the water borne data center.FIG. 6 illustrates a top sectional view of the waterborne data center.FIG. 7 illustrates the waterborne data center top sectional view belowthe main deck. And FIG. 8 further illustrates waterborne data center topsectional view. According to an embodiment the water borne data centercomprises the purpose built marine vessel (500, 600, 700, 800), filteredwater intake tubes (502, 602, 702, 802), filtered water exhaust tubes708, water pumps (504, 704, 804), heat exchangers (506, 606, 706, 806),containers (508, 608), row of racks 808, generators (510, 610, 710,812), data center facility (512, 604, 810), electrical switch room (514,614, 814), closed loop cooling system (516, 616, 816), main deck 612,712. Naturally cold water may be drawn by the water pumps through thefiltered water intake pipes to be pumped through one side of the heatexchangers where it serves as a heat sink to cool the hot coolant fromthe coolant distribution unit being pumped through the other side of theheat exchangers. The naturally cold water after absorbing the heat fromthe hot coolant may then be pumped from the waterborne data centerfacility and expelled through filtered water exhaust pipes. In anembodiment, freshwater may be used as a coolant wherein the coolant ispumped to the data center module cooling units (not pictured) where itabsorbs heat generated by the plurality of computing systems therein.The heated coolant is returned from the data center module coolingunits, pumped through one side of the heat exchangers while naturallycold water is being pumped through the other side of the heat exchangerabsorbing heat from the hot coolant.

The management suite further comprises a Data Center InfrastructureManagement (DCIM) system with predictive analytics and configured forcontinuously collecting and analyzing data from a plurality ofinfrastructure systems, components and wireless sensors. A plurality ofwireless sensors may be employed to continuously collect environmentaldata. The data collected by the DCIM system may be stored in a database.The stored data may then be analyzed by a predictive analytics engine.The analyzed data may be employed by the DCIM element controller tomanage infrastructure systems and components' operational states tosustain optimal infrastructure efficiency.

Presentation software comprised in the DCIM permits viewing of all thecollected and analyzed data by an end user with the presentationsoftware, and the DCIM system may be accessible over a secure IPnetwork.

An additional embodiment includes a system and method for intelligentdata center power management and energy market disaster recovery. Thesystem is caused to employ continuous collection, monitoring andanalysis of data from application services, power distributioncomponents, virtual machines, data center facility infrastructure andutility energy markets to enable dynamic data center operation actionsfor migrating application loads and power loads from one data center toanother without the need for manual intervention. The system and methodmay enable data center and application disaster recovery from utilityenergy market outages by quickly migrating applications loads from onedata center location to another data center location.

The system and method for intelligent power management may employ a datacollection layer that continuously collects data from a plurality ofinfrastructure elements, application elements, power elements andvirtual machine elements. The data collected may then be analyzed by aplurality of analytic engines with the resulting data analysistriggering automation software comprised in the system that cause andenable the system to make data center operational state changes forapplication load balancing or power load balancing across multiple datacenters.

According to an embodiment one or more data centers may be connected toone another by an IP network which may also connect to a plurality ofenergy markets. An energy market analysis layer comprised in the systemsoftware can use data collected from energy market elements toautomatically manage data center and application disaster recovery fromutility energy market outages. Preferred embodiments include softwarethat causes the system to continuously monitor and analyze utilityenergy market status and enable intelligent application and data centerload balancing that may provide financial benefits for movingapplications and power loads from one data center location using powerduring peak energy hours to another data center location using powerduring off-peak hours. The described systems and methods may quicklymove applications and power loads from one data center to anotherenabling disaster recovery from utility energy market outages.

The purpose-built marine vessel (1) is designed to comprise a heatexchange system (1) and to also cool the hot water returned from thewater based closed-loop cooling system (3) acting as a hot water returncooling system (3). Some embodiments are designed to utilize the hull asa heat exchanger, wherein the heat exchange system is partially orcompletely comprised in the hull of the marine vessel. The thermalcontainment systems (4) capture the hot exhaust air and will use thethermal airflow system (5) to move the hot air through the water basedclosed-loop cooling system (3) and return the cooled air to the datacenter. All of the components are monitored and controlled by themanagement suite. (7) Logic designed to run the management softwaresuite (7) can be implemented in several ways, with several variationsand modifications, as would be apparent to a person having ordinaryskill in the art.

According to an embodiment, a self-sustained waterborne facilitycomprises a submerged marine vessel, a datacenter coupled to a networkand housed in the submerged marine vessel, a reconfigurable thermalcontainment system coupled to at least one of the submerged marinevessel and the data center, and a single or plurality of closed-loopcooling units comprised in the reconfigurable thermal containmentsystem.

A preferred embodiment design includes a purpose-built marine vessel toserve as a data center that will be submerged in water. Alternatively,the marine vessel is built to serve as a data center, floating on awater body. All components mentioned, namely, the heat exchange system,the water based cooling system, the hot water return cooling system, thethermal containment system, the thermal air flow system, and thesoftware management suite, are installed in such a way that leveragesthe surrounding environment (Nature) for cooling and wherein allcomponents work together to manage heat created from IT load in the datacenter while achieving both energy efficiency and cost effectiveness.

Preferred embodiments include all of the above mentioned elements.Alternate embodiments utilize renewable energy sources such as solarphotovoltaic, solar thermal, wind energy, tidal wave energy, thermalenergy, etc. which can be leveraged for additional energy efficiency.Additionally, heat from the exhaust air or hot water return from thewater based cooling system could also be used as a renewable energysource or used as part of a waste heat system.

The thermal containment, water based closed-loop cooling and thermal airflow system can all be reconfigured and purpose built to be used inoffice buildings, residential homes, schools, government buildings,cruise ships, naval vessels, mobile homes, temporary work sites, remotework sites, hospitals, apartment buildings, etc. Other variations,modifications, and applications are possible, as would be apparent to aperson having ordinary skill in the art.

To use this invention, one would simply install their servers/equipmentin our waterborne data center facility.

Additionally, partial or complete embodiments of the disclosed inventioncan be utilized in alternate applications without departing from thescope and spirit of the disclosure. For example, water based closed loopcooling systems that leverage natural resources within close proximitycan be utilized to cool virtually anything, including but not limited tobuildings or dwellings, in an energy-efficient and cost-effectivemanner.

Since various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention,and since various changes might be made in the embodiments above setforth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shownin the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative andnot to be considered in a limiting sense. Thus it will be understood bythose skilled in the art of water borne vessels, and computer datacenters and that although the preferred and alternate embodiments havebeen shown and described in accordance with the patent Statutes, theinvention is not limited thereto or thereby.

The figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation ofpossible implementations of systems, methods and computer programproducts according to various embodiments of the present invention. Itshould also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, thefunctions noted/illustrated may occur out of the order noted in thefigures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, beexecuted substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionalityinvolved.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

Some portions of embodiments disclosed are implemented as a programproduct for use with an embedded processor. The program(s) of theprogram product defines functions of the embodiments (including themethods described herein) and can be contained on a variety ofsignal-bearing media. Illustrative signal-bearing media include, but arenot limited to: (i) information permanently stored on non-writablestorage media (e.g., read-only memory devices within a computer such asCD-ROM disks readable by a CD-ROM drive); (ii) alterable informationstored on writable storage media (e.g., floppy disks within a diskettedrive or hard-disk drive, solid state disk drive, etc.); and (iii)information conveyed to a computer by a communications medium, such asthrough a computer or telephone network, including wirelesscommunications. The latter embodiment specifically includes informationdownloaded from the Internet and other networks. Such signal-bearingmedia, when carrying computer-readable instructions that direct thefunctions of the present invention, represent embodiments of the presentinvention.

In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of theinvention, may be part of an operating system or a specific application,component, program, module, object, or sequence of instructions. Thecomputer program of the present invention typically is comprised of amultitude of instructions that will be translated by the native computerinto a machine-accessible format and hence executable instructions.Also, programs are comprised of variables and data structures thateither reside locally to the program or are found in memory or onstorage devices. In addition, various programs described hereinafter maybe identified based upon the application for which they are implementedin a specific embodiment of the invention. However, it should beappreciated that any particular program nomenclature that follows isused merely for convenience, and thus the invention should not belimited to use solely in any specific application identified and/orimplied by such nomenclature.

The present invention and some of its advantages have been described indetail for some embodiments. It should be understood that although thesystem and process is described with reference to a water borne datacenter and to a self-sustained, submerged, waterborne data center or/andfacility, the system and process may be used in other contexts as well.It should also be understood that various changes, substitutions andalterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. An embodimentof the invention may achieve multiple objectives, but not everyembodiment falling within the scope of the attached claims will achieveevery objective. Moreover, the scope of the present application is notintended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process,machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and stepsdescribed in the specification. A person having ordinary skill in theart will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present inventionthat processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means,methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed areequivalent to, and fall within the scope of, what is claimed.Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within theirscope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter,means, methods, or steps.

We claim:
 1. A self-sustained waterborne facility comprising: asubmerged marine vessel; a datacenter coupled to a network and housed inthe submerged marine vessel; a reconfigurable thermal containment systemcoupled to at least one of the submerged marine vessel and the datacenter; and a single or plurality of closed-loop cooling units comprisedin the reconfigurable thermal containment system.
 2. The self-sustainedwaterborne facility of claim 1 wherein the reconfigurable thermalcontainment system is configured to pump surrounding water from anenvironment surrounding the submerged marine vessel through filteredwater intake pipes, and the single or plurality of closed-loop coolingunits absorb heat generated by the datacenter via a single or pluralityof heat exchangers comprised in the thermal containment system.
 3. Theself-sustained waterborne facility of claim 1 further comprising: asoftware management suite; a plurality of wireless sensors; wherein thesoftware management suite is configured to: continuously collectenvironmental data and reconfigurable thermal containment system datavia the plurality of wireless sensors; continuously collect data from aplurality of applications and virtual machines comprised in the datacenter, a power source, and a utility energy market via a datacollection layer coupled to the network.
 4. The self-sustainedwaterborne facility of claim 3 wherein based on the data collected bythe plurality of wireless sensors and the data collection layer, thesoftware management suite automatically, and without manualintervention, enables dynamic data center facility operation actions formigrating application loads and power loads from the data centerfacility to another data center facility coupled to the network.
 5. Theself-sustained waterborne facility of claim 3 wherein the softwaremanagement suite further comprises a predictive analytics engineconfigured to dynamically control the thermal containment system basedon the application and power load migration and data center facilityoperational states to sustain optimal data center facility efficiency.6. The self-sustained waterborne facility of claim 1 wherein the closedloop cooling units are further comprised in a water-based closed loopcooling system.
 7. The self-sustained waterborne facility of claim 1wherein the reconfigurable thermal containment system further comprises:a cooling input; a single or plurality of filtered water exhaust pipes;a single or plurality of water pumps, coolant heat exchange piping, andcoolant distribution piping; a closed-loop coolant distribution unit;and wherein the coolant distribution unit is caused to pass heatedcoolant through the coolant heat exchange piping, and whereinsurrounding water pumped through the filtered water intake pipes iscaused to absorb heat from the heated coolant via a single or pluralityof heat exchangers.
 8. The self-sustained waterborne facility of claim 1wherein the closed-loop coolant distribution unit is coupled to a singleor plurality of heat exchangers.